“I suppose it’s time for me to wrap things up hm?” He closed his eyes

“Level 1 Technique; Betrayal of Shadows.” Several different blackened spikes rose up from the ground. The black stalagmites impaled arms, legs, and various parts of their body. Screams filled throughout as the entire camp cried out.

Various different people were struck by the betrayal. Some magicians managed to flee by ascending to the skies. Other’s perished on the spot. A majority of their knight forces also perished without resistance.

The spikes had poked through all of the three prodigies, and suspended them mid-air, making sure to avoid vitals.

“This is what pain feels like. I want you all to understand how it feels to be treated like a plaything by the entire word. To constantly feel in pain, and at the whims of others.” While it was Ora speaking. The actions were largely due to Alucarde.

The trio held their breath. With every attempt to move or flail, pain struck through their entire body. “As you guys are standing right now, the shadows are spreading through your body, like a system of vines. Each of those muscles sever with every second that passes.”

Ora’s deep and devoid voice seemed to cause the pain to increase more and more. For the three, who still couldn’t move, it felt like hell suspended in time. Several ripples of darkness emanated from Ora. Ora himself couldn't hold the amazement at his own power.

Rel, Lin and Alel also looked in absolute shock. "This is Ora's....relic?" In less than a split second, he had managed to subdue the three most prized students of Lawrence.

"How!? How have you b-been hiding..this kinda..p-power!?!" Shiek shrieked. "YOU COULD HAVE..."

"You Could Have..."

"Stopp...ed us.."

Ora was taken aback by the tears that rolled down her face. What did she mean stop them? Why did she care...they were there to kill Lynx weren't they? They unprovokedly came to their home and murdered his comrades in cold blood.

"why.."

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE YOU GIVE A SHIT! YOU'RE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. ALL OF YOU. I SAW THE WAY YOU GUYS LOOKED AT US. It's THE SAME LOOK THE WHOLE WORLD GIVES!!"

A mage casted a fire spell which launched at Ora at an untraceable rate. Just before it hit, a wall of darkness rose up from his left side and intercepted it.

"Its always the same...you all hate us. Just for existing." The same shadow that sprouted from the ground traveled towards the magician who avoided a collision with it. Every time the mage dodged, it looped around and continued its assault towards him.

he was quite proficient in maneuvering his way around the shadow's grasp. Finally, Ora grew tired of the little. "Betrayal of Shadows; level one."

The magician's own shadow began to distort and a spike impaled him from behind. Alucarde had to yet again take over his body in order to have him properly display the move.

He'd need a bit of practice before he could freely wield such power. "78...do you know what that number means?" Ora said calmly. "Its the amount of times plague children were killed. In the capital city alone. Killed by those like you..In a fair world...it would only be necessary that I kill 78 of your comrades as well. Maybe then we can both understand the pain we're experiencing. The pain of loss."

Lawrence was the first to speak up. "Don't be ridiculous! you should've run when you stood the chance kid. You think you can match up to Kars?! Don't go preaching about understanding each other!" he coughed blood and grimaced. "..Y-You're only in this for revenge!"

Ora looked confused. To him, revenge was never an option. He had never once considered it. He believed heavily that if both sides could experience the same pain as one another, they'd come to a better understanding.

"Well...I wouldn't expect you to understand..."

"All of yo-" Before he could even finish his sentence, all the air got knocked out of his body. The impact noise sounded like a cannon going off. Ora was sent flying through the camp, tumbling 100 meters away and still rolling before he managed to bring himself to a skidding halt.

That movement was way too fast. He had barely enough time to react. Naturally like with the fire blast earlier, the shadow wall would have activated and halted any advancements towards him. But it was much too fast for the wall to rise up. Alucarde had to instead re-route the shadows to defend him.

It managed to dampen the force slightly, but even then, to Ora it felt like a hammer colliding into him. Furthermore, he barely managed to stop his continued fall.

The power output behind that strike was impossible. Shaking himself off from the daze, he looked up to see the Silver knight Kars, standing where he previously was.

With one swift swing of his blade, the sheer wind turbulence cut down the shadows that held his subordinates restrained.

“Iren! Take them.” A tall magician in dark red and gold robes immediately descended down upon the field. He had taken to the skies just moments before the surge of spikes had erupted from the ground and managed to narrowly evade them.

In total, only three of the entire unit came out unscathed. Iren, Kars, and Regalt. Iren walked over to the trio and placed his hand outwards. “Restendrem Ivare” a spatial field appeared around them and soon their distorted figures were crammed into a small tiny gate of magic.

Iren stood up. “would you like my assistance?”

Lawrence shook his head. “I’d like you to stay back and avoid all combat. Collect the living while you can within your spatial storage. I’ll handle this from here.”

“Very well.” Iren nodded and fell back. He started traversing the area, looking for everyone who was still alive. He consumed everyone within his spatial pocket.

“Hmmh…It seems you’ve inherited the relic that costed Harre so much trouble. I can see how such a relic can be catastrophic. So…come.” Kars changed his stance into that of a defensive position, inviting Ora to go onto the offensive.

Ora cracked his neck and he could feel Alucarde adding more power into his body. The shadows began to spill out around him, forming a coating of defense. Since Kars was too fast, it would be better for the walls to be around him constantly.

At that moment, Ora dashed forward. A wave of black smoke scurried off him as he pushed off. An energy wave kicked off behind him and his body became like a bullet. Piercing even that of sound itself. The sound from the kick-off only came moments after he had already launched himself.

BOOM! Ora erupted forwards with shadows intertwining around his arm. This drill of shadows threatened to pierce through anything in its path. Yet, yet when it collided with Kars, it came to an instant halt.

To the might of Kars’ shield, it was nothing. The shockwaves sent fourth blasted the entire camp to bits and Ora had to enshroud his comrades in shadows to protect them. In response to Ora’s immense strength, Kars’ sword glowed brightly, shaking with energy.

“Perish.” With that, he slashed the silver blade across Ora’s chest, attempting to cut him right down the middle. Yet again, the power behind the strike was entirely too powerful and Ora was pushed back several feet. He managed to stop himself this time from flying.

The blade’s slice failed to pierce the thick armor of shadows he had donned. This time he was ready and prepared.

Kars paused and questioned Ora. “So, tell me…how did you obtain that power? Was it not the power of your red headed friend?”

Ora didn’t respond; only angrily glared at Kars. In the back of his mind, confusion slowly set in at what he was trying to ask, but he didn’t allow himself to be distracted.

What proceeded after was the most intense bout. A flurry of speed that one could not follow. Ora attacked with various different shadows at once, clawing at him. Kars responded by avoiding each and every hit with fluid ease and motion. Each time it seemed like a shadow was going to connect, it collided with his shield and bounced right off.

The short yet highspeed battle lasted for 5 minutes with various thunderous clangs ringing out loud. In the end, it was Ora who received the first blow, being sent back 10 feet before his shadows anchored him to the ground.

That breakaway in the assault was all that was needed for Kars to rush him. The moment before he could fully stabilize, Kar’s was already upon him and before he could react, severed the shadows attaching him to the ground.

This caused a brief moment of imbalance. Ora fell before meeting Kar’s feet head-on.

The strength of the blow knocked the wind out him and sent him tumbling across the ground. Even with the armor around him, it was a direct blow. Ora coughed and spat out blood. He was thoroughly tired by this point, and his strength was fading.

In desperation, his power spouted tendrils from all around the entire battlefield. The various monstrosities struck out at Kars and anyone in close proximity. Kar’s yet again effortlessly dodged them all.

The movements were too wild. It was as if he wasn’t targeting Kars at all, just angrily sprouting up the offensive.

It wasn’t long before Iren found himself struck by one of the shadows. It had sapped all the strength out of him within the first hit, and he fell to the ground completely devastated by the blow.

He had felt a couple bones shatter upon impact. Regalt immediately jumped forward picking Iren up. “Iren! Iren! Not good. He’s unresponsive.”

Kars was immediately shaken up by the information. “He’s still alive, yes?”

Regalt checked his pulse and nodded. “He’s still very much alive. Would you like some assistance dealing with the boy?

Kar’s shook his head “No. Actually…” He sheathed his sword. “We’re pulling back. The mission is deemed a failure. For now, we just need damage control.”

Regalt was entirely shaken aback by the news. “What??? What do you mean we’re pulling back. The enemy is right before our midst. Lord Kars, you’re making an errored judgment.”

Within the scene of craziness and shadows, these two appeared to be the only calm beings. The skies shook ravenously and the sands blared about.

Several tornadoes of shadows and tendrils formed everywhere around them. Yet they remained entirely oblivious to the danger of it all.

“Regalt. Look how much men we’ve lost. If Iren dies, all the people stored in his void will remain there forever. No one has the same link to them.”

He turned his back to Ora and began to walk away. “Our original mission was to receive Harre Gibbs. We’ve succeeded in that. This country can deal with their relic wielder. He’s no more powerful than I. It’s not a god relic at the very least.”

As Kars left the battlefield, he evaded tendrils upon tendrils with ease. Ora’s howling disturbed most of the night. And soon, there was no one around but Ora and his tendrils striking everything in distance. Birds and small animals took care not to get too close to the mess.

He eventually passed out later that night, and his own world became converged by shadows. That day, two major things happened.

Ora had first realized he had power...

and the silver knight Kar's had failed his first mission. The importance of these two meeting was undoubtedly a tale spun by the gods.